Should we all go to technology addiction therapy?

The Telegraph – 30 May 2015 – Should we all go to technology addiction therapy?

How many times a day do you check your emails on your phone? Be honest. If you scroll through your notifications before you’re out of bed in the morning, gaze at the screen whenever you’re in a queue and can’t resist a peek mid-meal, then it’s probably easier to count how many times you check per hour.

The average Briton spends the equivalent of two working days a week on their smartphones, and a quarter check their mobile 50 times a day, according to research from price comparison website comparethemarket.com. A fifth of Britons even use their phone while on the loo.

Others have seriously problematic relationships with technology. Nearly four in five students experience mental distress and isolation when forced to unplug for 24 hours, according to a 2011 study, and technology addiction is a growing psychiatric field.

Next month, the UK will embrace a US tradition for National Unplugging Day, where participants will spend an entire day without technology. I have no plans of going cold turkey, but I’d like to prevent technology from bleeding into every waking moment. And so I head to a therapy session with Dr Richard Graham, a psychiatrist at Nightingale Hospital who specialised in technology addiction